State Agricultural Society. 327 



PREPARING THE GROUND TO PLANT CUTTINGS. 



In the first place the ground is plowed and subsoiled from twelve to 

 fifteen inches deep, and then well cultivated or furrowed down smooth. 

 Stakes of redwood are then set just where the vines are to be planted. 

 Holes, two feet in diameter and twenty-two inches deep, are now dug 

 close by the side of these stakes, and all on the same side of them, while 

 the stakes are lei't standing. The surface dirt taken from the hole is 

 then returned to the bottom of the hole, and the bottom dirt is deposited 

 on the surface, thus entirely changing the relative position of the soil. 

 This being done, the planting of cuttings commences. 



MANNER OF PLANTING THE CUTTINGS. 



The cuttings are made just twenty-two inches long or equal to the 

 depth of the holes. The operator has an iron rod about three feet long, 

 with a split or crutch in the lower end. He places the butt or lower end 

 of the cutting within this split and holding the iron in the right hand 

 and the top of the cutting in the left, he places the lower end of the iron 

 and the bottom of the cutting on the ground close by the side of the 

 stake, and presses them at an angle of about forty-five degrees, down 

 into the loose earth with which the hole has been filled, until the hard 

 earth at the bottom of the hole is reached. He then holds the cutting 

 in its place and pulls the iron from the ground, and with it works and 

 presses the soil closely or compactly about the cutting, and the work is 

 completed for that cutting; and so he goes to the next. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS MODE 



Of setting cuttings are obvious. The bottom of the cutting from which 

 the root must start rests upon the packed or compressed earth, pressed 

 down and packed by the iron and cutting as they are forced through the 

 soil. The top of the cutting is left about an inch below the surface, so 

 as to protect it from the drying sun. The rich surface soil being in the 

 bottom of the hole, forces the growth of the roots and plant, while the 

 soil being loose above absorbs and retains the moisture during the 

 season. 



We can recommend this mode of planting cuttings to all who propose 

 to start new vineyards or extend old ones. 



